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The writer is a French-certified Maitre Du Vin Du Bordeaux from the Ecole Du Vin in France. While his hobby passion is wine, Ash, a former Wall Street strategist, is currently a V.P. Investments at Janney Montgomery Scott. Contact him at arajan@janney.com.

READ BETWEEN THE WINES: Breakfast at Tiffany with Holiday Bubbly

The writer is a French-certified Maitre Du Vin Du Bordeaux from the Ecole Du Vin in France. While his hobby passion is wine, Ash, a former Wall Street strategist, is currently a V.P. Investments at Janney Montgomery Scott. Contact him at arajan@janney.com.

Repeat after me: Deck the Halls...nay Deck the blue walls of the Tiffany salon with Ms. Audrey Hepburn languishing over a fainting couch, a long cigarette holder perched between her alabaster fingers and cuddling a Baccarat crystal coupe. With her favorite bubbly.

Picture “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” all elements of the visual just described would check, perhaps with one exception. Instead of another ho-hum bubbly in her coupe, I want to pour sparklers, not from Champagne country but from Trentodoc near Trentino in Northern Italy.

As Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel, Seriously. Can we do both? Seek new landscapes and have new eyes?

With implied consent from the great essayist, I am going to embark on making this month’s column as much about discovery, that mystique element of human behavior, as it is about wine. As humans, we tend to cuddle up to our comfort zones and safe harbors.

Discovery to most of us is like a xylophone to a rock band, intriguing but rarely used. Yet we are in awe of the Columbuses, the Vasco da Gammas, the Magellans and to think, if Chris just hunkered in with his paella in his native Spain, you and I would never have seen Oreos or peanut butter. Or all things Americana. So follow this pied piper on a grape discovery and repeat after me, Goodbye Mac and Cheese, Hello Ratatouille!

Hello whites over reds this winter season. Armed with the poetic license of an economist to make assumptions, I assume you love Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Zin and Rhone as your comfort reds for the winter. All delectable beauties in their own right, so addicting to the souls of your taste buds. Yes, taste buds have souls. A gentle hiatus from those “blanky” reds will only make your buds grow fonder.

Hello Trentodoc

Hard to resist the warm, lush, satiny feel of a big red, be it with steak or lamb and by a fireplace. No question that marriage is made in heaven. But this holiday season, try a spray of fresh cut grass, peach, pineapple and herbs of Trentodoc bubblys.

Made in the tradition of Champagne-making but not from the Champagne region, they come with names that are harder to swallow than the bubbly itself.

Rotari Trentodoc Brut Alpe Regis with aromas of golden apple, pineapple, bread crust, and dried fruit. It has an intense, well-balanced, and persistent taste with a dry, mineral style. Suitable throughout the whole meal, particularly good with raw seafood, risottos, and main meat courses.

Or Letrari Trentodoc Talento, a brilliant pale-straw yellow bubbly with hints of green and flecks of gold. The bouquet is full and delicately fruity, with hint of fresh pineapple and wisteria.

Cantine Monfort Trentodoc Rose, its fine blush color shows an elegance that Ms. Hepburn would certainly appreciate. On the nose, it has an intense and complex bouquet with fruity notes of strawberry and red apple. On the palate, it is rich, fragrant, harmonic, and persistent, with a fine, lasting finish.

The Monfort Rosè Trentodoc Brut is a classic wine for special occasions, to begin a party or celebration with a toast.

Borgo dei Posseri Trentodoc Tananai is a rich, soft and velvety with structure, fullness, and persistency. Drop a cranberry or a mandarin orange into the flute for whimsy.

Moser Brut Nature Dosaggio Moser Brut Nature is 100 percent Chardonnay with a minimum of five years aging on its lees in the bottle, it is an intense straw yellow with brilliant reflections, a fine perlage and fruity bouquet. Dry, savory, and creamy on the palate.

Revi’ Trentodoc Paladino is fruity and floral on the nose, with distinct notes of mineral that stand out and recall the rocky mountains of Trentino. The palate begins rich and silky, and finishes with light and pleasant flavors. Hunt these Trentodocs down and have your own Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Other Surprises

Your other white surprise is Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley in France. The climate is moody and volatile and gets its family face from its elder brother to the West, the Atlantic Ocean.

Honey, nuts, ginger, fig and the ubiquitous apple are the common notes but the texture is acidic and firm, not a goose-down bed but futon.

The limestone-dressed hamlet of Vouvray happened on me when I took a wrong fork in the road back from Chateneuf Du Pape. The 16th century Nitray Castle was the a gatehouse to the discovery of Vouvray, with its loft tasting room above the chapel, the stables and the barrel cooperage. The heady elixir of horses, leather, oak, mesquite and the breezes from the castle’s rose garden played like a thousand flutes to the stark purity of the chenin blanc.

As I imbibed the last drop of a miserly tasting pour, the chapel bell chimes, as if by divine invitation and Vouvray was etched in my soul forever. A bottle of Simonsig under $12 and a Chenin-Vigonier blend from Pineridge under $10 are usually available at Gary’s in Bernardsville.

And if your fling with Chenin fades, boomerang back to the Zealand Marlboroughs, but also soak in the crystalline minerality and the aromatic intensity of the sauvignon blancs from the Alto Adige region of Italy. My favorite, introduced to me by a dear friend, is Quarz from Cantina Terlan.

Breaking is up hard to do with Big Reds. Even for one winter. Knowing red devotees for years, it is next to impossible to wean them off those waves of red and black fruit, tamarind and leather. I am already hearing a loud Fugggedaboutit. Jump ship, I say and drop anchor in the quaint hamlets of white wine territory: Viognier, Sancerre and Furmint.

Viognier’s (Vee-own-yay) straw-gold color dates back to the Roman Empire. Legend has it that one emperor ripped up an entire viognier vineyard when the locals, fueled by viognier, revolted. Grown in Roussillon Languedoc and Northern Rhone in France, its reputation of being a finicky grape, much like a pinot, delivers, when done right, powerful aromas of peaches, apricots, and violets with a rich mouth feel and an occasional flash of honey. All that with one of the longer finishes for a white.

I recall the geo-mystical phenomena of the vivid ochre, crimson and magenta hills of Roussillon and my utter fascination for a home near the village square, gobbled up entirely by an old vine like the tentacles of a giant squid around a small row boat. Michel Gassie, French and Anthony Nappa, North Fork Long Island are ideal starting points for your Viognier discovery.

Sancerre, a fraternal twin of sauvignon blanc, is the antidote to the forgiving Zin and is an acquired taste for recovering fruit bombers. Its austerity comes from it being on the same chalk fault line as Chablis and some Epernay champagnes.

Versailles when Louis XV was in residence. There it earned the immortal moniker, “Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum” (“Wine of Kings, King of Wines”).

The Furmints that debuted on my palate by way of the gracious Hungarian Ambassador to the U.S., made a lasting impression. The “grape of many faces,” Furmint is bits of white burgundy meets Riesling meets sauvignon blanc. Patricius, at sub $15, is summer’s left field discovery. The lychee, white pear, flint, honeysuckle and sourdough mélange of notes is screaming to be tried.

So this winter take a break or at least mix up your reds with winter whites. You will not regret it.

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” — André Gide

The writer is a French-certified Maitre Du Vin Du Bordeaux from the Ecole Du Vin in France. While his hobby passion is wine, Ash, a former Wall Street strategist, is currently a V.P. Investments at Janney Montgomery Scott. Contact him at arajan@janney.com.

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